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Transgender Resource Collection

Serving, reflecting, and welcoming

"Transgender" is an umbrella term that applies to people whose gender identity does not correspond to what society has commonly associated with birth sex. The Oak Park Public Library has created a unique collection to serve transgender people and everyone seeking information, including employers, medical providers, allies, friends, and family. Materials are available to most Illinois library cardholders.

As one of the first public libraries to offer such a collection, Oak Park continues to support a "welcoming destination for people looking for information on transgender issues," said Materials Services Librarian Bleue Benton, who was instrumental in creating the original collection.

"We created this collection out of concern that transgender people were very much an underserved population in public libraries," said Benton. "We believe that the open access environment of a public library offers the best venue for raising community awareness and understanding of gender identity issues, and for serving transgender people."

Funding for this grant project was awarded by the Illinois State Library, a Division of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the federal Library Services and Technology Act.

Beyond the Surface

In 2005, the library undertook an intentional collection review, to determine whether items on the shelves and in the catalog were genuinely diverse and served specific population groups in Oak Park.

Staff Learning Coordinator Sharon Grimm was charged with looking at how well the library was serving and reflecting LGBT populations.

"What I discovered was, we had lesbian and gay resources well represented, but for transgender resources, we had been covering just the surface," Grimm said.

With a grant awarded by the Illinois State Library, the library was able to "really corner the market" with the transgender resources available to purchase at the time, she added. "Especially medical and law books for the layperson, which are hugely necessary but expensive, and may be out of reach for the transgender population."

Today, the library's work around the collection continues to support the Library Bill of Rights and to be a model for other libraries. This June, Grimm will be a panelist for "Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice in Technical Services" at the American Library Association's annual conference in Chicago. She will share how Oak Park's efforts to build a more useful collection sparked changes in library's facilities and practices. For libraries and other organizations interested in this work, review our Library Toolkit.

Welcoming, safe places for everyone

Even with increasing acceptance, the Transgender Resource Collection remains relevant and important today, said Materials Services Librarian Bleue Benton.

"Transgender people continue to be disproportionately affected by hate violence," she added. "This marginalized group faces widespread—often socially condoned—discrimination, harassment, and violence. Our project, with its commitment to diversity and inclusion, helps to promote libraries as welcoming and safe places for everyone."